The United Kingdom and Jamaica have signed a four-year partnership to accelerate reconstruction after Hurricane Melissa, beginning with a £10 million first-year programme funded equally by the two governments. The agreement was signed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda on 1 November by the UK Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, and Jamaica's foreign affairs minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, according to GOV.UK.

Melissa struck Jamaica on 28 October last year as a Category 5 hurricane, causing damage estimated at more than US$9.9 billion and claiming 45 lives. A year on, the new partnership is designed to move priority rebuilding projects from planning to delivery more quickly, with a focus on restoring critical infrastructure and strengthening the island's resilience against future storms.

At the centre of the deal is support for Jamaica's National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority, known as NaRRA. British firms Arup, Mace and Gleeds will form the Jamaica UK Delivery Team, providing design, engineering, programme management and procurement expertise alongside Jamaican engineers, contractors and other professionals. The three firms previously worked together on Peru's recovery from the devastating El Niño floods of 2017.

Funding beyond the first year has not yet been confirmed, and the arrangement's first £10 million is aimed at technical capacity and project delivery rather than construction itself. Jamaican reporting has also noted that the announcements so far set out no published targets for Jamaican jobs, subcontracts or local participation, leaving the share of work going to local firms as an open question the programme will be judged on.